Schumacher, the seven times Formula One champion, spent six months in a coma then spent time in a rehabilitation clinic in Lausanne, Switzerland before returning home.

He is now being cared for by a team of 15 experts, at an estimated cost of £100,000 a month, at the family's mansion at Gland, on the shores of Lake Geneva.

In his interview with the Parisien newspaper and RTL radio, Dr Payen said: "He is in very favourable conditions.

"His wife is surrounded by excellent advice and has put in place everything to help him get better.

"Corinna's someone who is very bound to Michael of course but who has a clear-headedness and a will to help him get better and who is just extraordinary.

"She has found herself sharing daily life with families who are there to help one of their close ones for years and years and she will do this same work. She's a good person."

Extraordinary support: Corinna is overseeing Michael's treatment at their home

Dr Payen, chief of the anaesthesiology department at Grenoble University Hospital, added: "Life after a head injury is punctuated with steps which can go from less heavy after-effects to some that are more heavy, that's all.

"You have to go forward, one hopes, but you also have to give it time."

The positive outlook comes after French F1 commentator Jean-Louis Moncet revealed Schumacher is 'waking up very slowly' following his brain injuries.

After speaking to Schumacher's 15-year-old son, the kart-racing driver Mick, Moncet told Europe 1 radio station: "I saw his son and he told me that Schumi is waking up very slowly; very slowly.

"Although things are going at a slow pace, he has a lot of time, I would say he has his whole life in front of him to get back on track."

Moncet, 69, also cast new light on the manner in which Schumacher was injured when he fell and struck a rock while skiing with Mick in the French Alps on December 29.

"The problem for Michael was not the hit, but the mounting of the Go-Pro camera that he had on his helmet that injured his brain," said Moncet.

Former Ferrari boss Jean Todt visited Schumacher last month, saying: "What's important is that he lives and that his family is with him. We really believe that things will get better. He needs time and to be left alone.

"In the past weeks and months, he has made progress in relation to the severity of his injury," said Todt, now president of the International Automobile Federation.

"But a long and hard road is in front of him. Hopefully things will improve. His family is close to him. He needs time and peace."